Quote:
Originally Posted by rartist
I looked last night at bestbuy.com at some receivers ($400 neighborhood; a Sony 7.1 STR-DG820), but I don't understand 7.1 in relation to blu-ray and am just starting out. Receiver will come first, new speakers later on.
|
Indeed, I am in your position. I still have a 5.1 setup with a Sony STR-DE845 receiver that I bought new in 2001. It still runs absolutely flawlessly. Check out my photo gallery for a peek. It's older, but highly featured and produces a quality sound.
Indeed, you can spend $400 at Best Buy for the STR-DG845, but if you look around online, you can find the STR-DG920 for the same price elsewhere (or even lower in price, but you may have to pay tax and shipping, depending on the vendor and their location). I will likely be getting the 920 in the coming months. It has a few features above the 820 which deem it a no-brainer for me.
7.1 simply adds two more discreet surround channels over 5.1. As time goes on more movies will be released with 7.1 multi-channel audio. Blu-ray discs store about 5½ times the data over standard DVDs, and this extra space allows the storage of high-definition video and more channels of audio.
Most Blu-ray discs will also contain "lossless" multi-channel as well. This means zero-loss of audio quality from the original master audio. These will either be in the form of Dolby Digital TrueHD, DTS HD-Master Audio, or Uncompressed LPCM. Taking advantage of these will require the use of an HDMI cable in most cases (using multi-channel analog is another option, and that will be most dependent on a Blu-ray player which internally decodes Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS HD-Master Audio, and has multi-channel analog outputs as well). Uncompressed LPCM is simply the straight digital audio, without any compression to save space. I know these are complicated topics, but as time goes on, you will come to understand the nuances of all these details, and the relationships between Blu-ray players/receivers/lossless audio. These forums will also be of great assistance to you.
Good idea to go with a receiver first. Your current receiver (even if working correctly) is useless to add the two extra speakers for 7.1. For now, you can set up a new receiver (like the Sony 820 you are looking at) to operate as a 5.1 channel system and keep using your current speakers. The 820 will also decode Dolby Digital TrueHD and DTS HD-Master Audio.
Hope that helps!